Typical foot orthotic fabrication methods involve making an impression of one's foot into a mold or cast by a professionally trained podiatrist. The podiatrist must physically examine the patient's foot, and place the foot in the mold, typically while standing. The impression is then manipulated and corrected in order to provide an orthotic that realigns one's foot. The impression of the foot in the mold or cast is then turned into an orthotic comprised of select materials using a milling machine. While this method, along with other existing methods, may be effective for some, they can be inaccurate in multiple disciplines. While the podiatrist is holding and bending the patient's foot into a corrected position (when necessary), the foot is tense, and thus highly susceptible to movement, causing the mold to be an inaccurate representation of the foot. If the impression in the mold is simply made without manipulation but in the standing position, the resulting impression of the foot is fundamentally inaccurate because the placing of the foot into a mold under weight-bearing conditions compresses the fat pads in the plantar surface of the foot and causes the lateral and medial arches of the foot to be stretched out of natural position. Considering that arch support is necessary for nearly all people, the disturbance of the shape of the arch of one's foot when placed in a weight-bearing condition (the mold), defeats the purpose of an arch-supporting custom orthotic. In addition to the mold-making method, some orthotics are made by use of a three-dimensional scanner wherein the patient places his or her foot on the transparent surface of a scanner in a semi-weight bearing condition. This method also produces an inaccurate measurement of the foot because the semi-weight bearing condition distorts the natural shape of the foot.
Furthermore, the basic method of making custom orthotics from a mold is expensive because it requires a professionally trained podiatrist to hold the foot in position during the mold. Medical insurance does not cover these causes in the absence of severe deformity or injury, and thus early use of customized orthotics for preventive health is not common due to the prohibitive cost. Additionally, the mold must be renewed for each patient, adding to the total cost of the orthotic. Lastly, the process is time-consuming, accounting for the examination of the patient's feet, the molding or casting, the manipulation of the mold or cast, and the development of the orthotic based on a negative impression of the mold.
The existing mold-making and three-dimensional scan methods of producing custom orthotics are also limited in the range of topography captured. Typically, these methods are only capable of capturing the plantar side of the foot, limiting the orthotic potential and range of use in different types of shoes and scenarios. Some types of specialized shoes, including medical and athletic shoes, such as ice skates, ski boots, and ballet shoes require customization of more than the planar aspect of the foot for optimization of the desired effect.